Baking Strategies and Livingroom Cooking Show

Dueling tree lots on either side of the street.

It's that time of year again. The neighborhood Christmas tree lots are gearing up for an epic stare down from across the street. Questionable covers of classic Christmas songs are playing in stores [Really? It used to be not too many years ago that the staff was spared that endless loop of cheer until after Thanksgiving. The clerks look hollow eyed and world weary already. I didn't used to took like that until December 20^th]. I don't like being forced to think about Christmas shopping or decorating before it's time. I haven't even done my shopping for Thanksgiving [Though we may be accepting a kind invitation to dinner from a dear friend, I always cook at home as well].

The holiday baking season is nigh. Some things, like the fruit cake, must be baked before the end of the month. It has to ferment in brandy, you see. And don't wrinkle your nose. I make a non-traditional fruit cake inspired by my late Aunt Eleanor [She couldn't eat nuts and hated those bizarro candied things] by way of Alton Brown. It's more of a spiced cake with reconstituted dried fruits (raisins, craisins and dried apricots). The fruit is reconstituted in rum! I do make a version that reconstitutes the fruit in orange juice for non-drinkers and minors. And Jon and I have found through year long experimentation that we can freeze batches of dough and bake them very successfully a couple of weeks later. This means that we can ship the freshest cookies yet with far less stress. To do that, I must plan well in advance. Supplies and equipment must be purchased. That shopping must be timed to get the best deals. A lot of thought and planning goes into this. It is fun though. When I smell that fruit cooking with the cinnamon and all the other spices, it really starts feeling festive. And this year, I may add a new twist to the backing.

Ready for My Close Up

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I've been learning how to shoot videos on my own for the cancer documentary. It's not that I won't have a crew when I do the shoots. I have a camera guy and perhaps a grip. I will not have Jon with me on many of the shoots that involve medical personnel. I have to see them when they are available. Jon's schedule isn't as flexible as it was when we shot the feature film. Thus, I have to learn how to shoot, so I can tell the crew I have what I want and especially what I don't want. To practice, I used what I had on hand – me and the kitchen one camera light, a web cam, a camcorder and a Skype mic. I shot and edited two videos this week in response to videos made by two chefs I follow on youtube. Chef Ochikeron wanted to know what products I was buying from Mitsuwa Market and how I was using them. So I sent her this RESPONSE. And I really enjoyed a pumpkin soup recipe made by Cooking with Dog  (it's not what you think). I responded to that video with THIS. The goal was to see if I could do basic lighting, sound and editing. Jon thought I did fairly well though I need to work on the sound. I agreed. It took me prowling around many of the Microsoft help forums to find out how to adjust the sound recording function. There is no help menu that I can access in the program itself. I have to find help online. Oy! I hasn't feeling great last week, so I'm less than pleased with how I look, but I am happy with a first solo effort. I have more complicated shoots planned for the next few weeks. I'll post links as they are uploaded. I'm also thinking of doing some video blogs as we do the holiday baking. When I lived away from home before, I used to bake while chatting on the phone with my Mom or other family. It could be like having everyone here to share the experience. I'm not making an absolute promise. But I am seriously considering it.

Slow Roasted Goodies

It is the last weekend of summer, so we're told. In general, that doesn't mean much to Angelenos. Grilln' season is year round. It's especially true this year, because LA didn't really have a summer this year. May gray gave way to June gloom. July and August had no nicknames but the weather remained stubbornly cool and overcast. There was even rain at times of the year that were thought to be impossible. But traditions must be observed. As surely as the chruch band next store must have a drum solo (and it is having a mighty one right now), I must do some cooking to acknowledge the end of summer holiday. And then, there is Jon's birthday to consider. He is a man of simple yet refined tastes. For his birthday, Jon enjoys a well made All-American meal. Usually, that means a tuna noodle casserole or something involving bread an potatoes. That seemed a bit heavy to me with all of this wonderful produce for so very cheap at the market. I did make cookies to appeal to Jon's dough cravings. That is, I made the dough yesterday and he ate some of it. Fortunately, he left enough for a good sized batch. These include Toll House cookie and a new butter cookie recipe. But I'm also roasted a pork shoulder for pulled pork (or what my family refers to as chopped barbecue), home made potato salad and creamed corn a la Iron Chef Michael Symon. Because of him, I now have another stock in my repertoire. Very exciting as I can use corn stock to make corn chowder. And to have alongside the cookies, sweet tea and real lemonade. Jon seems happy about the menu, and I believe I've properly represented the holiday. And watching some random episodes of the Star Wars Saga made the birthday complete for Jon. We also have leftovers that will see me nicely to the next round of chemo.

Snacks, Sliders and Deb of Borg

I did find an excellent use for the bounty of my unruly basil window hedge. I made a marinara sauce a la David Rocco with canned tomatoes and some tomatoes, garlic and onions that I roasted. I used the basil laced sauce on a pizza. This recipe was from America's Test Kitchen and is more like a Focaccia than a pizza. It was super easy, at any rate. I ate mine with caramelized onions in addition to fresh mozzarella cheese. Jon had his without. It was quite tasty, and there was enough for an afternoon snack the next day. I'd never planned to make my own pizza, but I find that I like very few that are available for delivery since having them in the south of France (I was told by Mario Batali himself that the region used to belong to Italy. And there seems to be an awful lot of Italians and their fabulous food there.). I've had a wide range of results making my own dough including the dough that tried to eat my fridge. This dough is the easiest though I still prefer the more troublesome recipes when I'm in the mood for battle. The pizza was all the more tasty having been made with my own basil infused oil and with that final sprinkling of shredded basil on top.
Special Snacks

I decided to give myself a pre-chemo treat and try a seafood recipe I saw on one of Paula Deen's shows. This was a scallop slider. It was made like a crab cake and eaten on a slider bun with a spicy mayo. Now, I do love a good crab cake (heavy on the crab and light on the cake) and I have made many kinds over the years. These shooters were very, very simple and the result was just amazing. They were delicately flavorful. They had a great texture and the mayo didn't overwhelm the taste of the shooter itself. Of course, the other part of the treat was a bit of was a little bit of bubbly. Alas, I will be vino free for the duration of the treatments. Don't be bummed for me. I'm enjoying a lot of healthy, tasty things during treatments. Among them, the Lassi. I'm gong very, very light on the spices and using mangoes or strawberries for flavor. This helps me with nutrients and keeping the old plumbing balanced. And I'm having the first of many batches of soup. This one – chicken noodle! Dull choice? No, it was quite tasty. One of the most intriguing prohibitions during treatment may result in some elaborate desserts. I am to avoid cold drinks and food. Frozen treats are thus out of the question. What to do when one has a jones for vanilla or chocolate ice cream (yes, my favorites are that mundane). Well, first there is cocoa (regular or white chocolate) or home made vanilla or chocolate pudding which are fine at room temperature. But then there is also homemade mousse!! Again in chocolate or white chocolate. And for a real jolt of vanilla yumminess, there is crème brûlée, baby! All I need is a blow torch!

Deb of Borg

Deb of Borg, that's what Jon's taken to calling me. He's also gotten good at dodging flying objects I throw toward his head. I have a number of tubes attached to my person at present. For about 48 hours, I had a little machine attached to me as well. There was much in the way of clicking and whirring in my wake during that time. The tubes ate the PICC line that runs from mu upper arm to just at my heart (by far the most gruesome thing that has happened to me in this entire ordeal was putting that PICC line in. Oh, all that long line in the photo on the link is what got threaded through my veins. Unpleasant. But, I must say, the nurse was excellent – as are all of those managing my care. The other tube has been in my abdomen since the surgery in April. That's gotten old, but there isn't anything to be done about it for a while.

Round One

The first round was okay. Jon and I watched Toy Story2 on my portable DVD player. That was a hoot and a half. I was surprised that we were served a nice boxed lunch – though I wouldn't have picked tuna salad for one with an iffy appetite and potential nausea issues. Still, it was a nice thought. I figure we can run through the vast list of films we've missed in the past year during the treatments. So far, I'm side effect free save for fatigue. That's astonishing when it hits. I'll be quite fine and typing something, then I'm waking up from a really deep and sudden nap. That will make timing my walks very interesting. The heavier side effects turn up later in the treatments – if I'm going to get them at all. Though I whine about the number of trips I'll be making to the hospital in the next months (and it is a whole lot of trips per week), I can't complain. I am really healthy compared to the other patients I see there. And even the weakest ones move with a determination that I admire. If they can buck up and get it done in that state, I've got nothing to complain about. The only bit of news that I found daunting is that the number of rounds is three times longer than I'd thought. The assumption was an error on my part. I think I read somewhere that the minimum number was four rounds and decided that was what would happen. Not so. I'll be going the full twelve rounds. Still, I should be quite fit by the time the Cannes Market rolls around. By then, I'll really need some proper pizza.

My thanks again for all of the cards, notes, calls and other well wishes. I really appreciate those and the prayers. And thanks for thinking of Jon as well. He's got an awful lot on his plate with me. Caregiving is never easy and he needs support as well.

Food Frenzy!!

I haven't posted for a while, but as you'll see, I've been busy.

Sunday Cooking Classics and Experiments

Basics and Improv

I remember one of my first lessons as a writer of fiction was from high school English teacher. I think I was in tenth grade. She took exception to the fractured grammar in one of my compositions. I complained about all the red on the page, maintaining that I was experimenting with language like one of the authors we were reading at the time. She knew that, but she felt it was her job to be exacting in the basics. 'Master the rules first,' she said. 'Then you'll know how to break them.' Though many of my readers sometimes wonder if I've managed to accomplish either, I did do as I was told (good Catholic schoolgirl that I was). The lesson holds true in many pursuits. It's certainly true of cooking. I realized that many of my failures were because I hadn't mastered or understood many of the basics of cooking or baking. Though I live on the Food Network and haunt food shows on PBS and the Fine Living Network, It's been really recent that I started working the basics. I began in earnest when with Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook. It's become even more serious with Julia Child's Kitchen Wisdom and Mastering the Art of French Cooking (which I've barely cracked). I'm finding so much joy in making the best soup stocks and really loving the chopping of aromatics. My new found patience has brought fourth excellent soft pretzels, and the notion of buying pie crust seems really silly to me. But there was one basic that eluded me until this week. That I tackled it at all was because of Anthony Bourdain.

Last week, he did an episode of No Reservations on cooking essentials that covered a basic stew, the omelet, roast chicken, grilled steak, hamburger patty, spaghetti pomodoro, french fries, and boiling a lobster. Each basic was taught by a master chef yet each one was so very simple on its face. Yet I knew how difficult they could be (I still can't get the lobster quite right. In fact I almost always over cook shellfish). I watched the episode twice (for those interested, it's available on I-tunes for 99 cents). Then I decided it was time to tackle my nemesis, the omelet. I've made them for years. My father liked my cheese version. They were all wrong. I never liked the brown crust. I didn't know how wrong they were until I had one in Paris. Oh boy, were mine wrong. It's tougher than it seems to cook it to just under done then roll it out and let carry over heat finish firming the curd. Fear of under done food is my problem with cooking shellfish. But I was alone and determined to try mid-week. The amazing Jacques Pepin had given his wisdom on the subject on Bourdain's show. I was sure I had an understanding this time. I threw myself at a two egg omelet with freshly snipped chives – no cheese. I didn't do the jerk and flip onto the platter. I sort of rolled it onto the plate. But it was perfectly yellow. I think it was still just a bit tougher than a perfect curd would be, but I got really close. That was thrilling and very yummy.

I am quite experienced cooking successful vats of chili of all types (beef, turkey, sausage). But because of the complex nutritional requirements my recent illness presents, I wanted to do one that was very tasty but densely packed nutritionally. To pull this off, I finely chopped extra carrots and celery along with the onion. The chop was extra fine and I cooked them down until they were nearly brown and very sweet before mixing in the lean beef. I used the mushroom, garlic and jalapeno infused olive oil I mentioned a couple of weeks ago for a bit of heat and extra flavor. For fiber and minerals, I cooked black beans in beef stock until they were soft then I pureed them. It thickened the chili without using a roux (that would have added more fat calories). Then I mixed in finely chopped spinach at the end. It seemed like a decadent all meat chili with a bit of parsley instead of the very healthy dish that it was. The improv worked very nicely. It was so yummy that I nearly had a bowl for breakfast.

Jon and I will continue our march toward attempting a baguette this week by making loaf bread. More specifically, we're going to try to make cinnamon raisin bread. I hope our luck holds, because I really want a big hunk of that. Today's experiment involves making our own Girl Scout Cookies. We're baking the 'Slim Mints' now. This place smells awesome! We're doing the peanut butter/chocolate 'Left Behinds'. I'll let you know how they turn out!

No Brine Roast Beasts

My ambitions with the Easter feast were hyped up by a pair of sales. Three of the chain grocery stores had hams on sale for about 80 cent a pound. One independent, discount market had frozen turkeys on sale for that much as well. While ham is my family's traditional roast beast, I can't resist a turkey no matter what. They make such great sandwiches hot or cold. And I adore turkey with dressing and gravy. Which brings up the problem with having both a turkey and a ham. I have to have dressing and stuffing along with the turkey. Just to have the turkey would be too weird for me. Thus, I have to make stock for the gravy, because I'm insane over having that singular richness to my gravy and I love turkey soup after the turkey is gone. And I have to dry some good hunks of bread and prep herbs for proper dressing. I've added almost another whole holiday feast on top of the usual Easter feast because of a reflex reaction to a supermarket circular. Oy! I also must make ham stock after carving up the ham as I have discovered the joy of split pea and ham soup. I have mentioned that I'm not having company, and we have a tiny kitchen. This a totally crazy amount of work for my circumstances and my physical state, but I am compelled by my inner Patty Warner and perhaps Martha Stewart. Mother often admitted to a touch of the crazies where holidays are concerned. Jon knows not to interfere. He knows he can't stop me, for one. And for two, he really digs turkey sandwiches and a nice slice of ham.

A Word on Brining Turkey

Don't. Just don't. With all due respect for Alton Brown that I have as well as the other Food Network chefs that engage in brining, I find the practice far too much trouble than it's worth, taste wise. Besides, there are almost as many chefs on Food Network that abstain. Despite the huge chance of cross contamination that dunking a large mass of raw poultry into a big container full of brine and ice for a few days can be, I tried it one year at Thanksgiving. We were entertaining a large crowd then, so we typically roasted two turkeys. I brined one, the other I simply cleaned and roasted the way I always have (a combination of Black southern style and French). In brief, rinse and fry the bird inside and out, put it in a roasting pan lined with carrots, onions, and celery. Season the bird inside with salt and pepper then stuff it with herbs (sage, rosemary and thyme), a head of garlic cut in half and a lemon cut in half (that's optional). I truss the legs then coat the birn with a mixture of olive oil and melted butter that may or may not be steeped with Herb de Provence. I salt and pepper the outside of the bird. I put a cup of wine into the bottom of the pan, cover the bird loosely with foil and roast it. An hour before it's done, I remove the foil and let it brown. Voila. Anyway, I did a taste test with the brined and non-brined turkeys. No one tasted a difference. They found both equally delicious. I never bothered brining again.

Where was I? Oh yes, I had a lot of cooking to do. I started on Friday by roasting the ham, carving it up then making stock from the bone while the turkey was roasting. I carved it up then made stock from those bones. Since I had no presentation of either meat to make for guests, that was easy. Alas, I have no photos of the meals either. We were too busy devouring them to shoot them. All day Saturday and most of Sunday went to the side dishes and the dessert. Yes, there must be holiday pie. In this case, sweet potato pie with homemade crust. What part of the crazies did you miss? And I was also compelled to dye Easter eggs. Luckily, Jon makes a fine sous chef and am excellent dishwasher. Getting all of this done would be impossible without him. I also had the company of the Ten Commandments to keep us company. Watching that film during Easter became a tradition. We watch it Mystery Science Theater 3000 style (basically, comically complaining during the entire film). Each year finds something new to say. For example, during the golden calf 'orgy' scene (no one was naked), the narrator intones that 'they doth ate the fruit of wickedness and drank the wine of something else, Jon said 'and they doth had the after dinner mints of debauchery.' I can't tall you what Craig was saying during the film. I really can't – it's bad. I can say it got him exiled from his house until dinner was ready. Hours of that frivolity makes chores pass pleasantly.

We had a wonderful turkey sandwich for lunch on Sunday, and dinner was ready at our usual hour despite all the fuss. I'll be packing away the leftovers to friends and the freezer including the soups. This will serve us well when I'm back from the hospital stay. Thus it was worth all the effort.



What's Cooking Good Friday

Jon kindly puts up with my incessant food show watching and DIY shows, but occasionally I can see him getting worried around the edges. Mind you, I was only passing the time watching the Martha Stewart Show about raising chickens. All I said that they were sure some pretty chickens. I was never considering sending for a big box of live chicken chicks. I can't find a spot to grow tomatoes or a little thyme and basil. Where would I put a chicken coop? And I must state while there is much I admire about Martha Stewart's skills (I have many of her cookbooks and often use her online recipes). I also often find her to be a little insane. I mean, I get that she has a farm and really gets into that life. But the thrust of that episode was that everyone should go out and get a pet chicken or even a whole coop. Why wouldn't you want to raise chickens seemed to be what she was asking. That's a trifle nuts, in my humble opinion.

Besides, I had plenty of stuff to do today. Though I'm not entertaining this year. Well, I'm always entertaining. I'm not having dinner guests for Easter this year. Anyway, I was volunteered to make some extra meats and greens for the folks at Lucy's soundstage. It's no real trouble. Everything is deeply discounted and it's very easy to scale up a pot of collard greens. I just spread the prep out over more days as I still tire easily. And then there is the final day of meatless Fridays to cook for. I made Spanakopita for me and buttered noodles for Jon. I've made Spanakopita so many times, it's my go to nibble to bring along when I'm invited to a party. The Michael Symon recipe is really easy. I make it easy still by using two boxes of frozen spinach thawed with the water squeezed out instead of fresh. But The other meatless treat we're having is the first successful batch of homemade pretzels. In this case the Martha Stewart recipe did not work as well as the Alton Brown Pretzel Recipe . His was very simple and quite fun to make. I also loved the episode because he correctly noted that Philly was a city one would travel to purely to get their pretzels. I often gorge myself on them when I'm home. These were not quite as brown as the professional ones, but they were perfectly crusty outside and wonderfully soft and chewy inside. Those we'll make a lot because the recipe was so simple and the yield so nice (8 really big pretzels).

This may make all the lovely aromas of the meats roasting in the oven tolerable. What else AM I making for Easter Sunday?

Food Stuff

If you consult the weekly blog, it will be very clear that I needed food therapy this week. Luckily, I had a lot of raw ingredients that needed converting into elements of great dishes. Fortunately, the buying frenzy of last week left me with a lot of material to work with and many chores that allowed for almost a meditative state. I have become obsesses with perfecting stocks. And it turns out, that that's not such a bad thing for a serious cook. Julia child states in Mastering the Art of French Cooking that the French term for stock, Fonds de Cuisine 'means literally the foundation and working capital of the kitchen.' [page 106]. She was not so much of a snob as to say never use the canned stuff or even bouillon cubes in a pinch. I have several varieties of stocks in boxes for emergencies. But the gravy or sauce or soup is always tastier if the stock is from scratch. I finally have a source for all manner of soup bones last week. Thus, I lost myself making fresh batches of chicken stock and beef stock. Simmering stock always makes me feel relaxed, and the smells are mouth watering.

I love doing something that is so familiar even though I'm always trying to improve on my technique. That's a matter of getting just the right balance of veggies and herbs and just the right amount of reduction and straining. Yes, it's fascinating. I did do some new things along with the stock and roasting garlic and asparagus and other veggies. I made a variation on a pasty that I saw on Aaron McCargo, Jr's Big Daddy's House. His recipe was closer to an Empanada which I adore, but not so exotic that Jon wouldn't go for it. I chopped up more veggies in my version of the dish. I even added finely chopped fresh spinach (something I've been adding to almost every ground meat or sauce of late). Thus, this grand scale hot pocket was a whole meal wrapped in pastry dough. Jon really liked it. He said it was like a hand held pot pie. He'll never know how healthy it was! Keeping the meals wrapped in flaky dough theme, I also made Spanikopita. One box of frozen spinach and a half a box of phyllo dough will make a whole lot of pieces. I freeze them and bake them as needed. See, I can do dishes that aren't meat intensive. Lastly, I made mushroom Confit from a recipe Kim sent me from a Vancouver newspaper. I had made garlic confit (poaching garlic cloves in olive oil) quite often after reading Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook. It's a great trick that yields lots of soft, sweet garlic and garlic infused olive oil. This recipe had mushrooms, garlic cloves and jalapeno peppers. I really liked the results. The mushrooms were very tasty and could go in a cooked dishes or in salads, I had roasted garlic and a sweeter, milder jalapeno pepper along with the infused oil. I'm going to use all of those in a batch of pasta sauce today.

Even with all of that cooking, I still haven't had a second whack at making soft pretzels though I've had all of the ingredients for more than a week. Jon and I will try today, I hop. And I also have a hankering for chocolate cupcakes with real butter cream icing. I have not been very successful in making that in the past – the icing, I mean. There is a recipe in Julia Child's book that looks simple ...too simple. I'm going to have to give it a try again. I really don't like the store bought frosting, especially after sampling the rich butter creams at the food fare a few weeks ago. I'm not likely to do that well, but it's worth a shot.

Stay tuned.

Cooking Therapy

I know this looks like I'm up all the time, but I do get a lot of rest. It was just that on these days, I was restless.

What's Cooking at 6am (February 17, 2010)
I can't explain why I'm cooking at 6am. I just am. Today, I'm making two firsts today though I can only eat one of them. I'm trying my hand at split pea soup with ham made from ham stock. I've never made the stock or the soup before. But I can't eat them today (it's even cheatig to taste for seasoning) as it is Ash Wednesday. Thus, the apartment is filled with the lovely smell of ham, but I may not partake. Ah well, later there will be Sole Meuniere a la Julia Child. That's also a first for me. I'll reveal how they turn out in Sunday's Blog. If I remain on schedule this week, I'll also be able to talk about the elsuive Mediterranean fish soup that both Julia Child and Anthony Bourdain rave about. It was a dismay failure when I made it last year, but I've gotten better at seafood stock since then, and Julia's recipe is far simpler than the others I've tried. I may even take pictures.

What's Cooking in the Wee Small Hours (Feb 23, 2010)
I have to get up in four hours, but I'm wide awake. I'm having the long awaited Oncologist appointment which is probably why I'm wide awake. The scent of roasting pork isn't helping matters either. There was a massive pork shoulder on sale at the market today. It was under ten bucks for something that looked like Fred Flintstone's dinner. I grabbed it, oiled it up, rubbed it with a mix of Herb de Provence, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper then threw it in the oven on low for about eight hours. It should be fork tender by the time I leave. I really love pulled pork, but decided I wanted it without the barbecue rub. The Herb de Provence rub was what I came up with in its stead. The result is quite lovely. Alas, I will have to leave the succulent pile of pork having had just the the tiniest taste. It does give me something to look forward to when I come home. I will have to make a stop at some point during the day for a suitable bread or bun to hold those tender morsels. Or I may just shovel it in my mouth by the fistful. In the privacy of my kitchen, who's to know?


Friday Night Snacks (February 26, 2010)
There are a lot of things I still miss from Philly (where are my pretzels, brother dear). Among the things I didn't expect to find is a really good bagel. My standards are high as I worked in New York City for a year. Luckily, there is a company out here called Noah's Bagels that has some real New Yorkers making things. Luckier still, Noah's provides bagels for our local Costco (we get a dozen fresh baked bagels for $.99). I like the everything bagel (onion, poppy seeds, sesame seeds). Jon likes cinnamon raisin. Anyway, my favorite bagel snack is something I picked up from one of the crew guys on "Demon Under Glass.' He liked his bagel toasted with a nice layer of cream cheese with a slice of tomato on top. My variant is that I chop the tomato then gently press it in the cream cheese so that it stays put. I sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper on the tomato. I love the arm crunch od the bagel with the softness of of the cream cheese and the warmth of the bagel against the cool of the cream cheese. It's just a great combination, And, as a snack, it's not that unhealthy (I only have a half a bagel-tomato at a clip). As for the other things I miss from Philly? I do fairly well making steak sandwiches (steakums on a supermarket French baguett is really good. I make mine with garlic infused olive oil on the roll instead of mayo). And I've just found a recipe for soft pretzels that's really easy that Jon and I will probably try next week. And I even found a recipe for scrapple that is probably a lot healthier than the real thing (it uses pork shoulder and fresh hocks cooked with corn meal rather than snouts and offal). It may not tast as yummy though. Still, I'd like to give it a try. More cooking later. I hope to have a report from the nearby farmer's market as well.

Photos of Our Hood

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Jon and I took a walk along Fisherman's Village in Marina del Rey today (don't hate us for the weather). Jon took some photos and I grabbed some off the web to show you the area. The boat called Tortuga is one of the many piers that offers charter fishing trips.

Click on photo to enlarge.

There are a lot of different restaurants around the Marina including a Cheesecake Factory with a great view of the water and the boats.

More to come later. Stay warm!

Pasta Fears and Noodle Mutilation

I don't know why, but I've had a fear of making lasagne. Perhaps it was because my cousin's was so good, I didn't think I could ever top it. Maybe it's because the list of ingredients is so long. I've tackled making a baguette but not this particular pan of pasta and sauce. The baguettes were more like bread sticks...dense, rock-hard bread sticks. We're still trying to figure out where that went wrong. But I digress. I got a craving for the dish once my appetite returned (I actually craved bacon first – still do, but that's beside the point). The frozen variety wasn't cutting it for me anymore. I decided enough was enough with avoiding the recipe. There was plenty of time to experiment. I even have someone that can share the big pan of food. Jon loves pasta, but the average lasagne recipe yields way too much food for two people even with freezing some of it. The time had come. Oh, and don't worry about my over doing in the kitchen. I'm taking breaks between each step and doing as much prep as possible sitting down.

The first thing I realized as I tackled Tyler Florence's recipe for The Ultimate Lasagne, is that all that time I spent getting coq au vin and beef bourguignon right came in handy. I can prep Mirepoix in my sleep now. I really enjoy chopping the veg and the herbs. It's like meditating, I suppose. The rest of the recipe involved steps I've done a lot lately like browning meat and reducing sauces. The only thing that set me in fits were those danged noodles. They were big and hot and slippery and annoying. I broke a quarter of them getting them in the hot water. The cooked ones weren't very cooperative either. Jon pointed out that a relaxing past time shouldn't involve angrily muttering at cooked pasta. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I will take a time out here to sum up my feelings about the 2009 Football season for the Philadelphia Eagles. Sigh. Early on, I had the mind set that the team was not going to do very well. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised at how the regular season finished. I felt that any headway made in the playoffs would be a delightful bonus. I wouldn't mind them losing two weeks in a row to those accursed Cowboys if the losses had been less lopsided. The Eagles aren't that bad and, more importantly, the Cowboys haven't been that good. Thus, the season ends for me with a sense of dismay and supreme annoyance. I take solace in the remaining playoff as there are a lot of really great teams. The games should be fun to watch. My only hope is that one of those exciting teams crushes Dallas' ambitions in the most humiliating fashion possible. In other football related musings, I was not that disappointed that Temple U lost its first bowl game in forever. I was shocked that they got to go to one in the first place. I was never a big booster of the team as I thought the University's money would have been better spent in other areas. But for Bill Cosby's sake, I was glad they finally made it to the big time. Maybe next year.

The lasagna is now in the oven. The kitchen is a mess, and I am quite certain that my handling of the noodles would get me a stern reprimand from Mr. Florence. It couldn't be helped. Things just went sideways when I was trying to wrangle the hot, steamy noodles. Then, they got more tangled as I tried to find ones that I could use in the pan. The end result looks okay and the meat sauce tastes good enough to eat out of the pot (which I've been doing though I spoon it out into my little tasting bowl). The apartment smells wonderful. I think it will be delightful. Sometimes, delicious cuisine is not pretty.

One of the great things about the blog in the past couple of months (aside from the great support I've received from you all during the illness) have been friends and readers sharing their recipes and cooking tips. I mentioned writing a recipe from an experiment by a good friend of mine. As it often happens when you really want to make something, Nick was missing a key ingredient. Going out for some smoked pork for his collards was unappealing. He found that he had hot Italian sausage in the house. So he took the sausage out of the casing and browned it with some onions and garlic, quickly sauted the greens then added liquid to braise. He used water. I use chicken stock. The result was a spicey soul food dish with an Italian twist. I replicated the recipe with my own tweaks. It turned out quite nicely though I can't eat something that spicey too often even though a nice piece of buttery cornbread works to cut the heat. I enjoyed the experiment. Moreover, it was really fun to chat back and forth about food. I'm always looking for new ways of making chicken or roasts or soups, so if you have a favorite recipe, do share. As I've said, I have lots of time to experiment.

I was going to do an epic treatise on Daytime TV and how it's driving me insane, but that will have to wait for next time. Meanwhile, I will leave you with my new favorite quote for the week. This is from CSI: Miami. What would cause the biggest pop star in the world to burst into flames? Yes, the new shows are back.

Stay tuned!